Choices
by spikescrypt
Summary: Ron struggles with the choices he has made. Contains spoilers for Deathly Hallows.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; if I did I wouldn't have killed off Fred. :(**

**Choices **

_She chose him. _

_Just like you knew she would_.

It wasn't hard to see why. He wasn't famous like Harry or Krum. He didn't have a vault at Gringotts loaded to the brim with gold.

He was just Ron Weasley. Not the brightest bloke to ever grace the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He wasn't the best looking or even the best in Quidditch.

But there was one thing that he had always been good at and that was being there for Harry and Hermione when it counted.

_Until now, said the voice in his head. _

"Shut up," Ron muttered to himself.

_Why? You know it's true_, the voice argued. _You took off and left them all alone. _

Ron looked down at the ground miserably. He could not argue with this, for it was all true.

_What will happen to them now? What if their attacked and I'm not there to help?_

"It's not like they need my help anyway," Ron said softly. "They can do fine without me, probably better. All I've ever done was get in the way."

Ron paced the floor of Shell Cottage furiously. Just who he was most furious with he could not be certain.

He was angry with Harry for not being able to come up with any great plan. Harry was supposed to be their leader and yet he could not even think of the next step that they needed to take on their mission.

He was angry with Hermione for taking Harry's side. For not standing up to Harry and agreeing with everything that Ron had said. The two of them had whispered to each other constantly about Harry's lack of proper leadership. Yet Hermione had acted like those conversations never took place. He was even more furious that she had chosen to stay with Harry instead of leaving with Ron. _But you always knew that if she had to make such a choice she would choose him. _

And finally, he was angry with himself.

Ron knew that what he did was wrong the minute he had Disapparated. He regretted it more than anything he had ever done. Harry and Hermione were somewhere out there facing Merlin knows what, and here Ron was in Bill and Fleur's cozy home drinking tea and sleeping on the settee. Ron knew that Bill was ashamed of him for deserting his friends when they needed him most. Heck he was ashamed in himself for even thinking about deserting them. Ron suddenly wished that he had Hermione's old time turner with him. How easy it would be to go back and make it so that he had never left. His friends would still have faith in him and he would still be able to look at himself in the mirror without seeing a traitor.

For that's the word that immediately sprang into his mind when he contemplated what he had done. _Traitor._

He betrayed his best friends in the worst possible way.

They needed him now more than ever. Half the wizarding world was out there looking for Harry. It would be a miracle if he weren't found soon. And Hermione, the Snatchers would just love to get their dirty hands on her. Not only was she a Muggle-born but she was also traveling with Harry Potter, Undesirable Number One. Ron didn't even want to think about what they would do if they found her. The thought made his skin crawl.

"How are you holding up?"

Ron looked up to see that his brother Bill had entered the room.

"I'm just splendid," he chuckled dryly.

"They'll be all right," Bill tried to reassure him.

"No thanks to me," Ron said softly.

"You can't keep beating yourself up Ron. You made a choice and if you don't like it than you need to find a way to fix it."

Ron nodded; he knew that Bill was right. He made this mess and he would be the one to set it right again. Maybe Harry and Hermione wouldn't want to see him again but he had to at least try. He didn't want to be Ron the traitor ever again. He was done with that role once and for all. From now on it was Ron, faithful best friend all the way. And maybe he would finally become the kind of man that Hermione deserved. He had already deserted Harry during fourth year. This was now the second time, Ron wouldn't let it happen a third.

"Your right," he told Bill. "I need to fix this."

"What are you going to do Ron?"

"I'm going back."

**FIN**


End file.
